Mine-shaft gate.



F. P. McCLAIN &J. A. FUTCHER.

MINE SHAFT GATE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1916.

Patented J uly 18, 1916.

2 SHEETSQ-SHEET 1 1p FIGZ. 5 W

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INVENTORS ms NORRIS r srzns 00.. 10- may msmunmm o. c.

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F. P. McCLAIN 81]. A. FUTCHER.

MINE SHAFT GATE.v

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 22. 19H};

WITNESSES Patented July 18, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET Z- INVENTORS .tion.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK r. meoLnr nNnaon A. rutrcr nn, or RILLTQN, PENNSYLVANIA.

'MINE-sHAFr-ern Patented July 18, 1916.

' Application filedJ'anuary 22, 1916. Serial N 0. 73,701.

'To all whom it mag concern.-

United States, and residents "of 'Rillton, in

the county of lvestmorelandaandstat'e of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain inew and useful Improvements in Mine-Shaft Gates, of-which thefollowing-is aspecifica- The .primary object of ithis invention is toprovide an automatic 1 gate of improved construction for shaft:landings, and .par-

ticularly the ground level landing, the .gate

=by preference-being adapted-to be operated each time :it ispassedebythe cage regardless of whether-the latter is'moving 'upward or downward.And withthe=cjage=broughtto-a standstill: atrthe controlled landingfthegate :is held elevated and in open ='p0siti0n and cannot close untilx-after the' cage ahasv moved 1 either upwardly or "downwardly as,

the case maydae.

A further object isito provide 5 trip mechanism r ofnoveldesign for:automatically: disconnecting 'the actuating means "from the; cage afterthe 'latter :has either raised or lowered i sufficiently i to render itdesirable fto closethe gate, at such "time athe connectionbetween thecage and "the .gate actuating means being automatically broken "andi'the. gate closes immediately and automatically.-

Still a Zfurth'er objectisito;providemeans within the cage and under thecontrol of anoperator stationed therein whereby ithfi. gate isautomatically openedrif the landinglistol be used, or passed withoutopening aif no: stop isto b'e m'ade.

Vhile thednventlon is designed primarily for use in mine shafts,the-automatic gate control afforded ithereby meeting-the safetyrequirements imposed by State laws and other regulations controlling theoperation of mine hoists, vit will be understood Ethat theinventionisadapted for use inbuildings or whereverthe automatic controlfurnished thereby'maybe advantageously used.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of amine shaft and :gatemontrolled :landing thereof equipped with the.improvedqnechanism,itaken on= line 11 of iFig'. 2, and "Fig. 2 isa-similar view taken online 2-2 of Fig. 1, in each of said views thecage :being shown "in :full .wlines :above the gate-operatingm'ech'anism i and in dotted lines Lbeneath: said mechanism. "Figs.

, 3 and fare vertical. sections similar to Fig.

- 2-but drawn to a larger scale and taken, respectively, on-lines 33 andH of Fig.

vation similar to Fig. 2','i1lustrating amodi ;fied-=for'mof actuatingdevice for the cage,

and Fig. 6 is a sectional plan, view taken Referring tozthe drawings, 2designates a mine shaft, and 3 'is theground landing thereof and- 4thetipple landing.

5 is the a cage suspended 7 within the shaft eby-cable 6,-the cagebeingheld inplace on the vertical shaftguides 7 by the keepers 8 secured'toopposite sides of the cage.

7 The mechanism thus far'described is of usjual and well;knownconstruction.

I-he'mechanisn1 of the present invention :is designed primarily forcontrolling the shaft gate 9'at landing 3, said gate beingSGGllIBd-{tOfiIlG end of-the operating cable 110. The cable extendsupwardly and around =suitable .-guide sheaves 11 and 11 and from thelatterdownwardly aroundsheave 12 in the vertical course B, 'andv' thenupwardly around sheave 13 in the vertical course A zparallel with course1 B, at the 'upper end i of course A the-cablepassing out over sheave:14 with a counterweight 15 secured to the extremity thereof, the weightmovable in] :nersides of ztimbers 17 the extremities of these guidewaysbeing deflected outward, respectively, as indicated at 18 and-19.Movable within guideway 18 is the slideforming head 20 whichcomprisesin-efl'ect -lfllIlk in;th-e length of. cable course A, and asomewhat similar slide 21 in guideway 19 =is connected in link fashionin course B. .:The 'facesof'guideways :18 and 19 adjacent cage 5 areslotted-vertically, and pivoted in an opening in slide 20-is thetrip-forming {pawl 22 which normally projects through theslotted guide18 in position to be en- ;gagedibystop 23 projecting from the cagewhenethe latter :is moving in an upward direction, as in Fig. 3, butwhenthe cage is mioving downward stop 23 simply oscillates the;pawl-2'2-on its ;pivot and the parts pass x eah-other without anyoperative efi ect. A

. reverse condition @is arranged :with reference mally projectingthrough the slotted guide 19 and free to turn upwardly out of the way ofstop 25 carried by the cage, but adapted to be positively engaged bysaid stop when the cage is moving downwardly, as in Fig. 4.

Operation: The gate and gate operating mechanism are normally in thepositioir shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the gate being heavier than thecounterweight 15 and hence normally lowered andin closed position withthe counterweight elevated. As the cage approaches the ground landing onits upward travel, stop 23 engages pawl 22, as in Fig. 3, and theresulting upward pull on course A of the cable exerts a downward pull oncourse B and an upward pull on the portion of the cable connected togate 9 thereby elevating the latter, and the connection between saidstop and pawl is main- I tained when the cage is at landing 3. As thedepressing said course and opening the gate as the cage approacheslanding 3 on its downward travel. As soon as the cage lowers from thelanding, slide 21 is deflected into offset 19 of guideway 19, therebybreaking the connection and permitting the gate to close automaticallyas above described. From the foregoing it will be seen that the inactivepawl is simply idly rocked by the stop projecting from the cage, theparts slipping past each other without in any way interfering with theactive pawl. To avoid unnecessary opening and closing gate 9 when thecage is raising and lowering pit cars to and from tipple landing 4:,cable 10 2 may be held depressed by a hook 9 on the gate, as shown indotted lines at 10',-Fig. 2, thereby raising pawl 24: into the topdeflection 19 of guide 19 and similarly depressing pawl 22 into thebottom deflection 18' of guide 18. The pawls are thus retained out ofthe paths of the cage-carried stops and the gate remains inactive.

In some uses, as in connection with building elevators or other hoistswhere it is desired to have the gate-opening operation under the controlof an attendant stationed in the cage, the pawl-actuating stops 23 and25 (corresponding, respectively, to stops 23 and 25 fixed to the cage)may be secured to the rotatable vertical shafts 30 mounted in the cage,Figs. 5 and 6, the shafts being connected bv link 31 and with one ofsaid to slide 21, the pivoted pawl 24 thereof nor-{i shafts providedwith a handle 32 whereby the stops may be projected for operating thepawls, as in full lines in Fig. 6, or retracted to avoid such operation,as in dotted lines in the same view. The side Wall of the cage isslotted at 33 to permit the stops to move in the manner described. Bythis means the gate at any landing of the shaft and provided with theautomatic operating means herein described, may be opened automaticallyas the cage approaches from either direction, or such gate may be passedwithout being operated if no stop is to be made.

We claim:

movable cage in said shaft, a gate operating cable applied to said gateand provided with a counterweight, means arranging an intermediateportion of said cable to provide two 'vertical spaced oppositely-movablecable lengths in said shaft, each length provided with a slide and tripdevice, a pair of vertical slideways in said shaft for said slidesrespectively, the cage being provided with gate-opening projectionscorresponding to said trips, respectively, each slideway being deflectedoutwardly at its upper and lower ends to remove the trip of its slidefrom the path of movement of its corresponding gateopening projection ofthe cage, and means 'for adjusting the gate operating cable to maintainthe slidesin deflected ends of the slideways with both trips fromoperative relation with respect to both gate opening projections,substantially as described.

' 2. In combination, a normally closed gate for a shaft landing, acagemovable vertically in the shaft, a vertical slideway along the shaftwith its upper and lower ends deflected outwardly, a counterweightedgate operating cable provided with a slide movable in said slideway, thecage and slide provided with cooperating devices to slip past each otherwhen the cage is moving in one direction and to operatively engage tomove the slide and cable with the cage to open the gate when the cage ismoving in the opposite direction and to operatively disengage when theslide enters one deflected end of the slideway, and means whereby thecable can be abnormally adjusted to maintain the slide in the otherdeflected end of A of the cage and corresponding to said trip devicesrespectively; means for automatishaft having a handle Within the cage,subcally disengaging a trip device and its corstantially as described.responding cage projection at the end of In testimony whereof We afiixour signaeach gate openingbinovementf; said projectures in presence oftWo Witnesses.

5 tions being swinga e to and rom 0 erative relation With respect to thetrip devi es; and a manually operated rock shaft and link connectionswhereby said projections are si- Witnesses: multaneously swung to andfrom operative JOHN C. F REDERICK,- 10 relation With said trip devices,said rock W; F. GALLAGHER, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0.

